Lemmon aside, I actually consider this one of the all-time great years for leading men. Hoffman, Scheider and Sellers are all incredible and completely win-worthy. Burt Reynolds is at his career-best in Starting Over and Dudley Moore is pitch-perfect in his breakout 10 turn.

I wanted to include Martin Sheen for Apocalypse Now, but apparently he was initially nominated and declined it? I’m not sure how true that is but whatever I can only have five nominees so works for me.

I wanted to include Martin Sheen for Apocalypse Now, but apparently he was initially nominated and declined it? I’m not sure how true that is but whatever I can only have five nominees so works for me.

That can’t be true. You aren’t allowed to decline. George C. Scott declined his but he infamously won anyway.

What was the buzz as to why Sheen didn’t get in? Was Pacino just too popular at the time and they reflexively voted for him? Although he does have the one famous scene which was probably enough to compensate for a ho hum film.

It is hard to choose between Sellers and Scheider and yes this is one of the best years ever. (I even like Pacino). I’ll go with Scheider.

I mean like I said, I don’t know how true it is, but I doubt there’s any official rule that says you can’t decline. There are a few examples of people doing this. Apparently, aside from not accepting his Patton win, Scott also refused his 1961 Best Supporting Actor nomination for The Hustler. Additionally, Ingmar Bergman was said to have rejected his nomination for Wild Strawberries. The only difference being that in these two examples, their names remained as nominees (and they just didn’t win anyway). Perhaps, Sheen also really did decline, and at this point, having it happened now for the third time (as well as two famous win refusals by Scott and Brando), the Academy decided to replace him. Not only is it unfair to those who actually want the recognition, but it looks pathetic for them to keep nominating people and then have the actors publicly reject and diminish the honor without repercussions and while still having the chance to win.

Unless the Academy was about to nominate Sheen, the actor called them to decline and then both worked to conceal this information for the decades to come, with British writer Karl French somehow the only person to discover it.